This invention relates to an electrically heated dryer for articles such as clothes which are held in a container during the drying with an electric resistance heating element being provided for heating air flowing to the container and with the element comprising a resistance metal sheet of separated strands at an angle to the sheet and generally parallel to each other and generally parallel to the air flow stream which thereby is caused to flow over the surfaces of the strands in an essentially wiping action.
The prior art discloses electric resistance heating elements for heating air before it contacts the articles in order to promote the drying. This of course is basic structure in an electrically heated dryer. Three patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,651,304; 3,798,417; and 3,860,789 disclose electric heating elements for heating a moving air stream in which the elements comprise thin strips of apertured metal foil with the moving air stream flowing through the apertures in contact with the foil to be heated thereby. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 2,875,310 discloses an electrical-resistance structure in which the individual elements each have a thin leading edge and curved surfaces along which the air flow through the electrical-resistance structure forms a tangential path. None of these nor any other reference of which applicants are aware, however, disclose the dryer of this invention including the expanded metal heating element having separated strands arranged generally parallel to each other and generally parallel to the air flow so that each strand forces the air flow edgewise so that the air contacts the heating element in a wiping action over the surfaces of the strands for transferring heat from the element to the flowing air and thereby to the dryer.